Film Festival Takes Off in L.A.

October 26, 2007--The American Black Film Festival kicked off in Los Angeles with the opening night film This Christmas starring Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Regina King, Mekhi Phifer, Idris Elba, and Chris Brown. Now in its 11th year, it's the festival's first stint in Hollywood after spending its first few years in Acapulco, Mexico, followed by a run in Miami. But with a move to Tinseltown, the festival's founder and chief organizer, Jeff Friday, is hopeful the five-day event will be more accessible and appetizing to Hollywood brass that have the muscle to make deals happen. Festivals are a great place to showcase rising talent and for young filmmakers to rub elbows with black Hollywood’s finest. Most of the films screened are low-budget works made by first-time filmmakers, usually for less than $1 million. Sydney Levine, president of West Hollywood, California-based Film Finders, a division of Withoutabox, specializing in tracking independent films around the world, says, "We track about 8,000 films a year globally. Of those, 5,000 a year get sold with 700 films getting U.S. theatrical distribution." Levine adds that of the films in the U.S. that make it to theaters, 500 are big studio films with only about 200 falling into the category of specialty or art house films. Small black movies would fit into the specialty category. But as more black stars go mainstream, the little, low-budget black movie—such as Hollywood Shuffle that years ago could still become a hit—will only find life at a festival, or if its lucky, DVD. Hence, looking at the above figures from Film Finders, it's easy to see the challenges small black films face in the marketplace; making the festivals that much more important to the evolution of black cinema and the development of diverse black audiences. SOURCE OF THIS STORY